One Ray of the Lowering Sun / The Cool Light of a Late Summer Morning by M.J. Iuppa

One Ray of the Lowering Sun

Standing in our garden’s sour ruin, I

hold a small piece of real estate in

my hands & squeeze it until it breaks

apart into a fine crumble that will be-

come so many rows of feathery green—

our future shares of misunderstood yet

loved vegetables that will fill our store

of round bottom baskets waiting in

the milk house. This year I want to

understand how this all works.  I want

to hold up that one perfect tomato

to the sun and say, this is ours, which

inevitably will be yours, too.

The Cool Light of a Late Summer Morning

How did we sleep last night?

1.

I think of the dream before the dream that woke me:

Sun— its brash light splashes upon our faces. We sit

on the break wall, watching an infantry of white-

capped waves marching onto shore with an expected

hard slap– the air shakes. We agree to disagree, and

push our chairs back without getting up. We can’t

afford to lose our seats.

2.

The dream that woke me has been following me

for a week now—another gathering near water.

There are white lawn chairs and mild air, and voices

talking like fizzy drinks.  There’s a tow-headed baby

smiling at a woman who is singing to him. He puts

out his hand, then loses balance & falls into the lake; 

his small hand waving just below the surface . . .

My face presses hard against the mattress, listening

for that sudden pop of breath.

M.J. Iuppa ‘s fourth poetry collection is This Thirst (Kelsay Books, 2017). For the past 29 years, she has lived on a small farm near the shores of Lake Ontario.  Check out her blog: mjiuppa.blogspot.com for her musings on writing, sustainability & life’s stew.